Fox in a Forest
by Kitsunegirl693
Summary: This is a sequel to my Fox in a Desert story and takes places 5 years after it ends. Takes place two years before the start of the Naruto series. Rated for language and some violence later on. No flames.
1. New students, new year

A/N: Ok this is the sequel to my Fox in a Desert story. I hope you enjoy it! This takes place about five years after Fox in a Desert and two years before the start of the Naruto story line. No flames please!

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Fox in a Forest

Chapter 1 New students, new year

_It was a dark night… Nicky could see that much, two figures sat next to a blazing fire. One was a little girl the other was a man with silver hair, who looked to be around 24. The girl spoke up, "How long till we reach the village?"_

"_I will reach the village in a day or so. You aren't going to the village."_

"_Wha-what do you mean?" said the girl._

"_I mean that I will reach the village alone and that you will be going somewhere else." The silver-haired man said, advancing on the now terrified child._

_She started to back away, but hit a tree. She looked behind her, then back at the man. He lifted up the band that was over his right eye and did something that caused the girl to slump down. Nicky screamed and started to run over to the strange girl, but something hit her in the back of the head…_

"No, stop!" Nicky screamed. Jerking herself up, she looked wildly around herself breathing heavily, her heart racing. It wasn't the first time she'd had that dream. It had been happening over the last two months, and every time she'd wake up screaming.

Nicky glanced at the digital clock beside her bed. 10:30. _"Might as well get out of bed,"_ she thought. Once again she glanced around her overly large bedroom, not quite over her dream. _"Sometimes I wish it wasn't so big… but I guess it's just because the house is."_ She snorted, _"But I guess 'house' isn't the right word, it's more like a manor than a house."_

Sitting up Nicky stretched and got dressed. _"And of course, this house is old and has its share of secret passages, doors, and rooms… I wonder who built this house anyway."_ Still silently pondering, Nicky made her way downstairs and into the kitchen.

Her mother, who was reading the mail, looked up as her daughter entered and said, "You have a letter."

"From who?" she asked.

"The school," her mother answered in an uninterested tone.

Picking up the letter, Nicky opened it and read it out loud,

_Dear Nicky Fox, _

_We would like to congratulate you on entering your first year of middle school and hope that you'll enjoy it. We would also like to inform you that an exchange program will be going on during the 1st semester and that you will be housing the Subaku siblings. Lastly, the school year begins in a week._

_Happy summer!_

_Jacky Nugent, Principle_

"An exchange program? Cool." Nicky's mother said as she finished the letter.

"Wonder where they're from." Nicky said absently.

"Who knows."

"I'm gonna go ask Amber and Kat if they got letters too."

Back in her room Nicky turned her computer on and signed onto the Chatroom that she and her friends had found the previous year.

_Desertfox: Hey Kat, Amber you there?_

_Dragonmaster: Hey Nicky what's up?_

_Desertfox: Did you get a letter from the school today?_

_Yukkiichigo: Yeah, we were just talking about it._

_Desertfox: Did yours say you were going to house any of the exchange students?_

_Dragonmaster: Yeah I'm housing… Hinata Hyuga._

_Yukkiichigo: And I'm housing… Sakura Haruno._

_Desertfox: Mine said I was housing the Subaku siblings._

_Dragonmaster: Maybe it's because you have such a big house. XD_

_Desertfox: Most likely._

_Yukkiichigo: Hey can I come over? I'm tired of just sitting in my room._

_Desertfox: Sure. What about you Amber?_

_Dragonmaster: I'm game._

_Desertfox: Cool. See you later._

Nicky signed off and went to the bathroom the brush her hair and teeth.

*****Later*****

"Wait, what are we doing again?"

"You know what forget it. I give up."

Nicky face palmed. Sometimes her friends did the weirdest stuff. She was one to talk though. She had auburn hair that was steadily getting redder and dark blue eyes. But she wasn't the only one with weird colored eyes. Amber's were violet, and Kat's were sky blue. Not to mention all three of them had weird shaped birthmarks on their palms. In fact they had started wearing gloves to cover them because the other kids thought they drew on them.

"I wonder what the exchange students will look like…" Nicky said out loud. She was sitting on her bed and staring at the ceiling, which was a dark blue color.

"Who knows," Amber said, who was sitting in a chair next to Kat, and reading a book.

"Mmmm…"

Just then Nicky got an idea. _She_ knew about all the secret passageways in the house, but Amber and Kat didn't.

"Hey. You know they say this house is haunted." Nicky said.

"Yeah right," Kat snorted, "There's no such thing as ghosts."

"You never know Kat. Many people believe that ghosts exist." Amber told her.

"You two are just trying to scare me."

In a flash Nicky pulled out some smoke bombs and threw them on the floor. Immediately she disappeared through a concealed door in the wall.

After the smoke had cleared Amber looked around for Nicky and Kat. Kat was there but Nicky was nowhere to be found. "What happened to Nicky?"

"The ghost! It must have taken her!" Kat said in a panicky tone.

Amber sweatdropped "I doubt that," she said.

Then a low voice echoed around the room. _**"Get out!"**_ Amber went pale.

"Holy shit!" Kat yelled. Then the sound of hysterical laugher came from the other side of Nicky's bedroom door. Nicky walked in clutching her side from laughing so hard.

"How did you do that?" Kat demanded.

"A magician never reveals her secrets," Nicky said after she stopped laughing.

"Interesting…" Amber said.

"I'm planning on doing that at the annual Halloween party this year. What do you think?"

"Brilliant." Amber said, a grin starting to spread across her face.

"Kat?"

"I'm gonna say that you're going to scare the shit out of some people."

Both Nicky and Amber started to laugh. "So how did you do it?" Amber asked, getting control of herself.

"Secret door," Nicky told her, "This house is full of them."

"Ahh." Kat muttered.

"You'll have to tell us more about it, but it's late and I have to go home." Amber said.

"Yeah, me too."

"Ok. I'll see you guys at school?"

"You got it." Kat said.

*****A week later*****

"I'm off!" Nicky called to her mom, before opening the door.

"Hang on Nicky," her mom said before her daughter could walk out the door. "I'm working late tonight, so I wont be back till 8:00."

"Ok mom!" Nicky said, running out to catch the bus.

*****Later*****

"How long has he been talking?" Nicky asked, looking up from her book. She was in the schools auditorium, sitting between Amber and Kat and listening to the assistant principal's annual beginning of the year speech.

"About 30 minutes." Amber said, looking at her watch.

"I hate just sitting here." Kat complained.

"That's why I brought a book."

"Shut up Nicky."

"What are you reading anyway?" Amber asked before Nicky could retaliate.

"_Dracula_."

"Awesome!"

Suddenly everyone in the auditorium started clapping, which Kat Amber and Nicky quickly joined in.

"And now Mrs. Nugent will go over the school rules."

"Oh joy." Nicky muttered.

"Dose anyone see the exchange students?" Amber asked, looking about the auditorium.

"Nope."

"Not a thing."

"Shouldn't they be here?"

"Maybe they're gonna introduce themselves later," Nicky said.

"Maybe…" Amber muttered.

It was another 20 minutes before Mrs. Nugent finished explaining the rules and said, "As you all know we will be having some exchange students with us for the first semester. I hope that everyone will show courtesy and respect to them, it I hear that _anyone_ has mistreated them there will be _severe_ consequences." Everyone was silent, and noone doubted a single word Mrs. Nugent had said.

"Those exchange students must be important or dangerous people." Nicky heard someone mutter behind her.

"Yeah," his neighbor responded, "Or both."

"So everyone give a warm welcome to our exchange students."

Just then a group of about 15 people walked out and stood in a line going across the stage.

"There's so many…" Nicky said.

"Most of them look our age," Amber observed. "Five of them look older by at least a year or so."

"Now, could you all please introduce yourselves?" Mrs. Nugent asked.

"My names Naruto Uzumaki! Dattebayo!" a boy with whisker-like marks on his cheeks shouted.

"What-?" Kat was speechless.

"Loudmouth." Amber muttered.

"I think he's funny." Nicky said.

"Sasuke Uchiha." a guy with raven hair muttered.

"He has duck butt hair."

"He looks like a total ass hole."

"I bet he has fangirls." Nicky's comment was them confirmed when a group of girls that were sitting a few feet away started giggling like over obsessed fangirls.

"Sakura Haruno." a pink haired girl said.

"Why is her hair pink?"

"Fangirl."

"I think there's more to her than we see."

"What makes you say that?" Amber asked.

"I don't know," Nicky shrugged. "I just feel that she is more than she seems."

"Shikamaru Nara." drawled a boy who looked incredibly bored.

"Lazy ass."

"No motivation what so ever."

"I bet he's great at chess." Amber and Kat stared at Nicky in a weird way. "What?"

"Nothing," they both said.

"Ino Yamanaka." said a girl with long blonde hair.

"She's an even bigger fangirl than Sakura!"

"Pig."

"And full of herself."

"Choji Akimichi." a boy stuffing his face with potato chips said.

"No comment."

"…"

"I wouldn't call him fat."

"Kiba Inuzuka! And this is Akamaru." said a boy with a small white dog on his head. "Arf, arf!"

"Dog boy."

"What you don't like him?" Amber said.

"No! I hate dogs!"

"Ooo kitty got claws." Nicky teased. "You two are destined for each other."

"… Bite me."

"Is that an invitation?"

"Shino Aburame." muttered a boy with sunglasses.

"He's creepy."

"Yeah." Amber and Nicky agreed.

"I-I'm H-Hinata Hy-Hyuga." a blue haired girl with pale eyes said.

All three girls looked at each other a said "Shy."

"Neji Hyuga." said a boy with pale eyes.

"Prick."

"Ass hole."

"He has a superiority complex."

"Tenten."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"My name is Rock Lee!"

"OH MY GOD!"

"What's with-"

"His EYEBROWS!"

"Kankuro Subaku." said a boy wearing a hoodie.

"Subaku? Nicky isn't that-?" Kat began before getting shushed by Nicky.

"Temari Subaku." said a girl with four pigtails.

"She looks dangerous." Amber muttered.

"Gaara Subaku." came a low monotone voice.

"He's scary." Kat muttered.

"He is so hot!" Amber said.

"I think I've seen him before…"

"What?"

"I don't know… I feel like I know him." Nicky told her friends. As she looked down at Gaara and the other exchange students Gaara's gaze locked on to her's for a split second before he turned and walked away with the other exchange students.

"You may all pick up your schedules before going to class. Have a good year!" Mrs. Nugent said.

"_This is going to be an interesting year…" _Nicky thought as she went to get her schedule with the other students.

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A/N: Hey peoples! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of the sequel for Fox in a Desert. Please read and review and no flames!


	2. First Day

**Hey people. Finnaly updated this story. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

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Fox in a Forest

Chapter 2 First Day

_Nicky's P.O.V._

After the assembly everyone started lining up to get their schedules, hoping to be in classes with their friends and hoping that noone they hate will be in them. _'__Ugh, why can't they just mail our schedules to us? Then we wouldn't have to go through all this __chaos.'_ I thought. When I finally got my schedule I turned to Amber to see if I had any of my classes with her.

"Hey looks like we've got 1st, 3rd, 5th and 8th periods together." Amber said, looking over my schedule.

"Where's Kat?" I asked, looking around for her.

"Maybe she went to class already?"

"Mmm…"

Shrugging we both made our way to our first period class, History.

"I hope our teacher isn't boring, I don't want to fall asleep," I said.

"I know what you mean, hey there's Kat."

"Hey Kat."

"Where were you two?" Kat demanded.

"It took forever to get our schedules," I explained.

"Well come on I've got some seats for us."

We all sat down and started talking about how we hoped our first day would go, Kat was to my right and Amber was behind me. Vaguely I wondered if any of the exchange students would be in this class when I had my answer.

"Oh great dog boy is in here…" Kat groaned.

I turned around, sure enough the boy named Kiba walked in with a backpack slung over his shoulder closely followed by Naruto, Sasuke, Hinata, and Sakura. "I don't get it why do you hate him so much?" I asked.

"I don't hate him, I just don't like dogs."

"Aww man, Gaara isn't in here…" Amber whined.

"You never know Amber he might show up. Not everyone is here yet." I told her.

After a few minutes I picked up my book again and started reading. I was just getting to the part when they were about to enter Lucy's tomb when someone sat down next to me. I glanced up to see who it was, and saw Gaara staring straight ahead at the board with a blank look on his face.

I just stared at him. For some reason he looked familiar… _'Where have I seen him before?'_ Suddenly his gaze went from the board to me. I quickly buried my nose in my book. I could feel my face starting to heat up…

_'Wait what am I doing? I hardly know him and I'm suddenly going to act like I'm afraid of him? I am not afraid of him!'_

That's what I told myself but for some reason he unsettled me… I found it very hard to concentrate on what I was reading, and was really relived when the teacher called class to order.

"Hello everyone my name is Mrs. Edwards and I hope that we can be great friends this year. Now I want everyone to stand up and introduce themselves as we go around the room."

_'This is going to be a looong day…'_

*****Time skip to lunch*****

Amber, Kat and I were looking around for a place to sit when we noticed some of the exchange students sitting at a table together. "Why don't we sit with the exchange students?" I suggested. "We can find out some more stuff about them and introduce ourselves."

"I'm up for it," Kat said.

"Me too."

So we all walked over and sat down in some empty chairs. The boy with blonde hair named Naruto grinned in a friendly way. "Hi there!"

"Hey, Naruto right? My name's Nicky Fox." I told him. "That's Kat and Amber."

"What's up?"

"Nice to meet you!"

"Cool. This is Sakura, Sasuke, Hinata, Shino, Shikamaru, Kiba, Choji, and Ino." Naruto said pointing to each person in turn.

"Nice to meet you all." I said. Then I noticed something. "Weren't there more of you?"

"Yeah. But they're a grade higher and that red haired guy dosen't eat with other people."

"Oh." I said, "But aren't you all from the same school?"

"No. Well sort of. The Subaku siblings aren't, they're from a different school, but the rest of us all go to the same school back home." Naruto explained.

"That makes sense." Amber said.

"How are you guys liking it here?" Kat asked Sakura.

"It's pretty interesting and it's nothing like the school we go to," the pink haired girl told her.

"Yeah but it's _pretty_ boring if you ask me," Naruto muttered.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted.

"What? I'm just saying."

I laughed, "Well the first day is always boring but lighten up. It gets better as the year goes by. Most of the teachers here are really cool, and we have awesome parties. Especially around Halloween."

All the exchange students, minus Shikamaru, gave me a weird look. "What's Halloween?" asked Naruto.

"You don't have Halloween where you come from?" Amber exclaimed.

"No. Not at all." Sakura told her.

"Well Halloween is when you can dress up and get candy, but the kids at this school don't usually do that." Kat explained.

"Why not?" Ino asked.

"Because I have really awesome parties at my house during certain holidays. I always invite all my classmates when they happen, and sometimes the upper classmen if they want to come." I told them.

"Wow, sounds like fun." Kiba said.

"You got that right," I said mischievously. "They're a blast!"

Everyone started to eat and talk with each other about a few random topics. I finished my lunch and got up to head to my next class, which was art, so I could have a few minutes alone.

I sat down at one of the tables close to the wall next to the window. I could see one of the trees outside. Suddenly I saw Naruto and a bunch of high school boys were ganging up on him.

I immediately jumped out of my seat and ran outside. "Hey jerkwads!" I yelled at them. One of the boys turned towards me and laughed.

"Look guys, the shrimps so weak he has to have a girl fight for him." That started to make my temper rise. _'Calm down, calm down…'_

"Why don't you run along and play with your dolls, little girl."

All right that did it. "Why don't you run off before I have to hurt you."

One of them got right up in my face. "Yeah? Like you could hurt a fly. I'm twice as big as you are; I could crush you like a bug."

I smiled, "Oh really?"

"Yeah really."

I punched him as hard I could in the nose. He immediately grabbed hold of his nose, which was bleeding, and backed up into one of his buddies. "Argh! My nose! That little bitch broke my nose!"

"Yeah and unless you want me to break your arms or legs you'll beat it!" I yelled.

The idiots got the message and ran off like the cowards they were. "You ok Naruto?"

"Yeah… Thanks by the way."

I smiled, "You're welcome. I couldn't let him hurt one of my friends could I?"

Naruto gave me a surprised look, and then his face broke out into his big goofy grin. "Hahaha. You're a great friend Nicky. I didn't know you would break that guys nose. You don't look like the kind of person who would do that. Not that I'm trying to be insulting."

"Ha! Ever heard 'Don't judge a book by its cover?' I'm a prime example of it."

"I guess so."

"Hey what class do you have next?"

"Art, why?"

"Me too! I just wanted to know. Come on let's go." I grabbed hold of Naruto's arm and started dragging him toward the classroom, much to his protest.

*****Later*****

'I think the universe is trying to tell me something' I thought to myself in English. 'Every class I'm in He's in it too, and he's always next to me…' I heard someone sit down behind me. I was pretty sure who it was but I looked anyway…

'_Yep. Gaara.'_ Once again, every class I have he's in it too. I swear whatever Gods there were, they want to screw my life over. I know I said I wasn't scared of him but I felt slightly nervous with him behind me. He always had this blank look on his face, predatory almost. It was unnerving… And I could almost _feel_ his gaze on the back of my head.

I gave an involuntary shudder. _'I can't wait till I can go home… Wait he's staying at my house... Crap.'_ I fought the urge to bang my head on the desk. My life sucks…

*****45 minutes later*****

When the bell _finally_ rings I pick up my books and turn to Gaara, "Um…" He just stared at me. "…Follow me." I turned around and walked out of the classroom so I could find his brother and sister. I found them at the front doors arguing with each other. I don't know what it was about but they stopped when I walked up.

"Hello, my name's Nicky. You guys are going to be staying at my house while you're here." I said.

"Hello Nicky," the girl said, "I'm Temari, and this idiot is Kankuro."

"Hey!"

"And I see you've already met Gaara."

I glanced behind me to see that Gaara had followed me after all. I didn't know if he had or not, he was so quiet… "Well if you'll follow me we can catch the bus."

This was going to be the weirdest year ever…

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**A/N: Ok I know this is way overdue, and I'm sorry. But please don't kill me I just had a lot of stuff happen over December and I didn't feel inspired to write… Anyway please R&R!**


	3. First Day Part 2

A/N: Wow it's been forever… For all of you who've been waiting patiently for this, I thank you. And to all those who've either reviewed, added this to favorites, or to their watch… You're AWESOME! This is a short chapter, but it'll explain why Naruto and the others are at Nicky's school…

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I only own the OCs… You hear that SOPA and PIPA! I own NOTHING! (Sorry about that ^_^' just had to say it…)

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Fox in a Forest

Chapter 3 First Day, Part 2

**1 week before the first day of school, in the Leaf Village…**

"Yes, Lord Hokage? You sent for me?" said one Iruka Umino.

"Ahh, Iruka, yes I have a mission for your academy students…"

"What!" Iruka was shocked at what he was hearing. "What kind of mission are we talking about here!"

"…"

"What! Iruka-sensei, what are you talking about?" Sakura questioned.

"Just what I said, Lord Hokage is going to send some of you on a mission to a small town that's not too far from here…"

"But, I mean, why? We haven't even graduated from the academy yet…"

"I know, but this isn't like a normal mission. It's more of a training exercise than an actual mission."

"Huh?"

"I don't get it Iruka-sensei, dattebayo." (Three guesses who said that… XD)

"Well… You see, before you can become a ninja you must learn how to blend in with non-ninja folks."

"What's THAT supposed to mean-ttebayo?"

Iruka sighed in exasperation, "The town that you will be going to has no idea that the ninja world exists and is very different from the Leaf; the purpose of sending academy students there is to help them learn how to successfully perform missions that would involve reconnaissance for long periods of time in other lands. To teach you how to blend in so well that you'd be hiding in plain sight."

"I see," said Sasuke. "So we're basically learning how to gather information about an area by making ourselves seem like we're just one of the crowd…"

"Correct Sasuke. You don't have to go on this mission if you don't want to, but if you do come see me after class."

The ninja in training looked at each other, excitement plain on their young faces. "I would also like to add that some sand-nin will be joining us on the mission as well."

The students stared at their sensei like he'd sprouted a second head. "Iruka-sensei…"

"Yes, Sakura?"

"Why would sand-nin join us? I know the Sand and Leaf are allies, but…"

"It's because we're allies that we're letting them join us. To help foster friendship."

**In the Sand Village at the same time…**

"To foster friendship?"

"Yes," Baki told his charges. "However, the Leaf and Sand also use this opportunity to look for candidates to become ninja."

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Kankuro.

"Sometimes, we can find people who can become suitable ninja in towns like the one you'll be going to."

"I see…" Temari mused.

"I can't tell you how imperative it is that none of you reveal you ninja skills. And don't kill anyone; we can't draw attention to ourselves."

At this, Baki, Kankuro and Temari glanced at Gaara. "…"

"That's all, you have 4 days to prepare yourselves. Dismissed."

**1st day of school, the auditorium…**

'_Wow! Iruka-sensei was right-ttebayo! This place is nothing like the Leaf Village!'_

'_Huh, this might actually be interesting…'_

'_I hope I get some classes with Sasuke-kun!'_

'_This is gonna be such a drag…'_

'_I better get more classes with Sasuke-kun then Billboard Brow!'_

'_They better have good food here…'_

'_I smell a cat… I hate cats…'_

'…'

'_I-I hope th-that I have s-some classes with N-Naruto-kun…'_

'… _Why did I agree to come here?'_

'_I'm actually kind of excited about this…'_

'_I'll show everyone that I'm not a loser!'_

'_Gaara… I hope he listened to what Baki told him…'_

'_He seems to be fine… for now anyway.'_

"_Not allowed to kill anyone? Like I would bother with these weaklings in the first place…" **"Great… That means this is going to be boring as ever…"** '…'_

As the 15 ninja in training started to walk off Gaara caught the eye of a girl in the stands for a moment. Turning away from her, Gaara followed the rest out of the auditorium. _'Do I… know her…?' _ The Tanuki in his head snorted, _**'Yeah… Like you ever knew anyone that cute before…'**_ Gaara ignored the demon, instead looking at the paper in his hand. _'History…'_

Throughout the day the ninja in training attended their various classes; some classes were better than others. But, the day went off without a hitch, other than the fact that Naruto almost got in a fight with some older guys but Nicky took care of that… _'She's kinda scary-ttebayo…'_

Gaara, of course noticed that the girl, Nicky, he saw earlier was in every class he had, not to mention she was sitting next to him in all those classes and he was staying at her house… (The universe is a strange thing sometimes… And by that I mean it likes to mess with you a lot…) As the sand sibs and Nicky walk off to the bus, Gaara absently wondered how that year was going to play out…

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A/N: Yeah, weird chapter I know, but deal with it. I'll work on it; anyway I'd like to take this opportunity to tell my readers that there is a revamp of my first story, Fox in a Desert, is up. I would greatly appreciate if you could take a look! Peace out! P.S. If you can't figure out whose thoughts is whoes it goes in the same order that they introduced themselves in back in chapter 2... Not sure I did Neji, Tenten or Lee's right though...


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